Practical Conservation

5 Aug 2010.  The tool has been updated.

USDA has a new tool that lets you download soil and pasture rental rates (for CRP and other uses) in a variety of ways.  Also has an EI caclulator.

New York Times article on the recovery of the trout fishery in Iowa, thanks in no small part to CRP.

My colleagues just completed a multi-state northern bobwhite research initiative. The final report was just published by NRCS and is available online.  It summarizes a suite of research projects that will improve conservation on farms. A quote from the Foreward should pique your interest – “You will find clear, concise recommendations and the kind of conservation practices to use on your farm or recommend to others for quail restoration. Much of the bobwhite’s needs are supported by farm bill programs approved by Congress and administered by USDA NRCS.” – L. Pete Heard

Don’t own a farm?  You can still create riparian buffers along sensitive habitats adjacent to your yard.  Create a Backyard Buffer courtesy of the Wildlife Habitat Council.

USDA has published a new 136-page corridor manual:

Bentrup, G.  2008.  Conservation Buffers: Design Guidelines for Buffers, Corridors, and Greenways.  Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-109.  USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station.

This is the NEW best corridor manual in existence, a planning tool following up  Conservation Corridor Planning at the Landscape Level (the “old” best corridor manual reviewed earlier by yours truly).  This new manual is designed for use in the field.  It is small and spiral bound.  It has great diagrams, rules of thumb for the practical landowner, and it describes design guidelines for 7 major objectives – water quality, biodiversity, productive soils, economic opportunities, protection & safety, aesthetics & visual quality, and outdoor recreation.  Importantly, it updates the science and includes recommendations for both urban and agricultural landscapes.

At www.bufferguidelines.net, you can also download the bibliography ( 1,400+ references!), case studies and slideshows that complement the guide.  Available as a free downloadable pdf or order it as a spiral bound copy.

One caveat: This new manual does not make the “old” best corridor manual – Conservation Corridor Planning at the Landscape Level – obsolete.  The old manual is a different type of publication – more like a textbook with more detailed explanations of the theories behind design principles and numerous detailed case studies.  For classroom study or for designing comprehensive management plans, the first corridor manual is still “required reading.”

USDA’s Conservation Assessment Effects Project has just released two extensive reviews of the effects of agricultural conservation practices – like those used in CRP and other conservation programs  (public announcement here).  Part A addresses terrestrial habitats and Part B addresses aquatic habitats.  Even better is the dynamic bibliography.

Missouri Extension has published a great guide for installing field borders (herbaceous strips of vegetation replacing crops at field edges) entitled Field borders for agronomic, economic and wildlife benefits.   The document illustrates some important principles of corridor design that we focus on in my course, but that are not incorporated (intentionally!) into farm plans nearly enough.  The document is b/w, but color versions of the pictures can be viewed on the html version HERE.

The folks at CorridorDesign.org say it best “Our goal is to transfer everything we’ve learned about designing wildlife corridors to the public to facilitate better conservation, science, and dialogue.”  The site includes examples, how-tos, white papers and – best-of-all – dozens of ArcGIS extensions.  All free.  Developed for Arizona, no doubt they could be adapted for anywhere.  See the scientific publication in Conservation Biology.  You could make an entire graduate seminar course out of this website!!

Food safety concerns (like the e. coli – spinach scare) are influencing the amount of natural habitat in some agricultural areas.

From the article ” That translates into ripping out trees and bushes to create sterile buffer zones, up to 100 metres wide, to keep deer and other animals out of “crop blocks.” Not only does this strategy do little to impede the wildlife – which in any case is highly unlikely to carry E. coli – but it also destroys habitat for insects that pollinate plants or eat pests. The buffers also promote erosion and allow pollutants into streams.“

I am all for food safety, but grassland buffers may reduce E. coli in runoff containing cattle feces,  {which are being ‘scorched’ -Sam Riffell}.

How this plays out for wildlife will worth watching.

{Thanks to Ralph Maughan’s Wildlife News for putting me on to this}

Conservation Corridor Planning at the Landscape Level (CCPLL) is now part 613 of USDA NRCS National Biology Handbook. Overall, it is an excellent resource aimed at conservation practitioners. It is clearly written in a way that can be understood by laymen without sacrificing scientific content. It is suitable as a supplemental text in advanced undergraduate and perhaps graduate level courses. I have used it as a primary text in my Managing Wildlife in Agricultural Landscapes course.

After a brief introduction, the second chapter of CCPLL reviews the ecological effects of fragmentation. The third chapter describes the different types and functions of corridors. Together, these two chapters review the principles of landscape ecology most relevant to conservation in agricultural landscapes. The fourth chapter moves into ecologically-based design principles, although amount of real empirical verification for varies among them (i.e. some of them are better bets than others). The last two chapters move away from ecology and into area-wide planning process and conservation planning.

A major advantage of this document are the case studies sprinkled generously throughout each chapter. A second major advantage is that it is available free here (very large pdf).